Kimiko Date Krumm and Tamarine Tanasugarn to play the oldest WTA final

With a combined age of 73 years, Kimiko Date Krumm and Tamarine Tanasugarn will play the oldest known final in the history of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, as both players upset their higher-ranked opponents in the semifinals of the HP Open.

Thailand’s world No.94 Tanasugarn upset second seed and 16th-ranked Marion Bartoli 6-2 7-5 and reached her second final of the year, having been runner-up at Pattaya City to Vera Zvonareva in February.

Forty-year-old Date Krumm followed up her upset of French Open finalist and defending champion Samantha Stosur with another upset, this time over third seed Shahar Peer and the score was 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5. The world No.13 Peer served for the match at 6-3 5-4 but Date Krumm continued to make history and after becoming the first 40-something player to win a match against a Top 10 player (it was against Stosur in the quarterfinals), Date Krumm reached the oldest final and could as well become the first player older than 40 to win a title.

The 56th-ranked Date Krumm is favorite to win the HP Open title, although she and Tanasugarn are tied in their head-to-head at 1-1. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: sydney-yokochin)

4 thoughts on “Kimiko Date Krumm and Tamarine Tanasugarn to play the oldest WTA final”

Wow,this is unbelievable!Kudos to both, I really like Date Krumm and hope she will win. I think she can be a real role model for her colleagues many of whom lose the fighting spirit when they’re much younger.

Shahar Peer should be embarrassed. Losing to a 40 year old and one set up? I’m her biggest supporter but this has to be a massive setback for her, especially when she was looking for her first tournament win of the year.